Effects of Animal Feces on the growth of Nannochloropsis oculata algae

Abstract

Algae need food to survive just like all living things. The growth rate of algae was measured by using two grams of fecal matter of a dog, deer, and chicken, eight 50mL Falcon tubes, three small plastic cups, a 3mL calibrated transfer pipette, 500mL bottled water, 1.5mL tube of 100x F/2 nutrient media, 15 grams of marine salts, and 50mL of algae. The growth rate of algae could be studied further by adding one nutrient source into two tubes and a different nutrient source into two other tubes. In total there would be four tubes in which one of each algae culture could be placed indoors and outdoors. After completing the cell counts, it was found that the algae solution with dog waste grew to 3.0617*10^6 cells/mL which supports the hypothesis claiming dog feces will have a greater effect on algae growth than deer and chicken feces.